waeber



(No Model.)

F. REISET & G. A. WAEBER. SHEET METAL CAN.

No. 457,456. Patented Aug. 11, 1891.

Ely Z297 h H 1" i; m 1m "3 Il I I II I 0M0 a l/ 4 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

FREDERIC REISET AND GUSTAVUS A. \VAEBER, OF NEYV YORK, N. Y.

SHEET-METAL CAN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 457,456, dated August11, 1891. Application filed January 25, 1890- Serial No. 338,071- (Nomodel.) I

To all whom, it mag concern:

Be it known that we, FREDERIC REIsET, a native of France, residing inthe city of New York, in the county and State of New York, and GUSTAVUSA. WAEBER, a citizen of the United States, residing in the said city,county, and State, have invented a new and useful Improvement inSheet-Metal Cans and Boxes 5' and we hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and-exact description thereof, reference being .had tothe drawings which accompany and form part of this specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of the head of one of our improvedcans separate from the can-body and before its flange has been formed.Our improvement is applicable to either the top or the bottom head of acan,

and therefore the figure may be taken to represent either head. Fig. 2is a side or front viewof a can with both of its ends or heads in place.Fig. 3 is a plan view of one head of a can, showing another mode inwhich our invention may be applied; and Fig. 4 is a side view of thesame can, the blank for the head of which is shown in Fig. 3.

This invention relates to that class of sheetmetal cans and otherreceptacles which after being filled are hermetically closed bysoldering and are opened by tearing away a portion of the material ofwhich the can or cover is composed along the line of an incision madepartially through the metal. In cans or boxes of this characterexperience has shown it to I be necessary, in order to render thetearing operation satisfactory in use, that means should be employed tostiffen or strengthen the thin metal on one side of the line of theincision sufiiciently to enable it to resist properly the force of thetearing action on the other side of the line, thereby avoiding thebuckling and bending of the metal, which would make the tearingdifficult.

Our improvement is designed, principally, to be applied to cans andboxes the covers or ends of which are made by striking or stamping themin dies and presses to form the circumferential flange which overlapsand incloses the end of the vertical wall or body of the can.

It consists in a can head or cover or can end or bottom formed with acircumferential flange and having on one side of its flat stir-- face anincision made partially through the metal at the top or upper side ofthe flange just at the point'where the metal is turned over laterally toform the flange, thereby enabling the can to be opened, either strippingoff the flange itself along the line of the incision on one side andalong the line of the solder on the other side, as represented in Fig.2, or by tearing out the entire top or bottom inside of theincision-line, as shown in Fig. 4. In this manner all the neededresistance against the stripping or tearing operation is provided by thestiffness and strength of the flanged portion of the cover or bottom,

and a can is furnished which is easy and cheap of construction andefficient in operation.

To enable others to make use of our invention, we will proceed todescribe it in detail.

D, Fig. 1, represents the central portion, and a the flange portion, ofone head of a can or box constructed in accordance with our improvement.As before stated, this figure may be taken as showing either the tophead or cover or the bottom head of the can, and it exhibits the flangeportion abefore it has been turned over to form the flange. When it isso turned over, its top, and consequently the outer edge of the cover orbottom, will be coincident with the double line in the figure marked bb, and it is at this point and along this line that we make theincision. The incision will be clearly seen ate 0 in Fig.2, and it willbe manifest that by thus locating it where the metal is the most rigidwe obtain all the stiffness of the side of the flange and of the corneror fillet where the flange is turned over to oppose as a resistance orfulcrum against the operation of stripping off or tearing away a part ofthe material to open the can. Moreover, by our methodof construction Weare enabled to secure another very important result. spreading out ofthe incision throughout its entire extent by the operation of turningthe metal over to form the flange. This materially augments theweakening of the metal along the line of the incision, and therebygreatly facilitates the opening of the can, and will be found to operatevery satisfactorily in practical use. I

Our improvement may be so applied as to This is the opening oror box orupon the flat or central portion D' of the cover or bottom. Figs. 1 and2 represent the first of these modes of carrying out our invention, andFigs. 3 and 4 the second. In each of these figures, 9 denotes a shortlateral outward projection of the metal, which forms the customarytongue by means of which the stripping; or tearing is started. Theflange a of Figs. 1 and 2 is soldered in the usual way to the body ofthe can or box on the line at n, and by grasping the tongue g with thefingers or inserting the end of it in the slot or opening of asuitably-shaped key the entireflange may be stripped off along the lineof the incision c c on one side of it and along the solder-line n n onits other side, thus readily opening the can. In this instance thetongue g is formed byslightly prolonging the flange a. In Figs. 3 and 4,however, the tongue is formed by an outward extension of the flatsurface of the cover or bottom, and when this projecting part is grippedby the fingers or by a suitable tool placed in the slot of the key, asin the other example, and the metal is pulled forcibly upward the entirecentral portion D of the cover or bottom inside of the line of theincision c 0 may be turned out, thereby completely exposing the contentsof the can. The incision should preferably be made in the metal beforethe flange of the can or box is turned over. This course will not onlybe found to be usually the most convenient in practice, but it enablesus to obtain the advantage of having the incision opened out by theoperation of turning the flange over, as above set forth. If desired,however, the flange may be formed first and the incision produced in itafterward; or the flange may be turned over or struck up and theincision made in it at one and the same operation by the use of suitabledies, cutters, and presses.

The incision may be made either on the upper or the under surface orface of the cover or bottom,and it should preferably be of a depth equalto about half the thickness of the sheet metal; but it may be slightlymore or less.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to'secureby Letters Patent, is-

A sheet-metal can, box, or other receptacle having a flanged endcontaining a circumferential or partly circumferential-incision madepartially through the metal thereof at the point where the flange isturned down, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

FREDERIC REISET. GUSTAVUS A. \VAEBER.

\Vitnesses':

F. G. HENRY, EDWARD C. VIEsER

